Eden Close is the second Anita Shreve novel I have read after being very impressed with Strange Fits of Passion. I was not at all disappointed with this latest read although I was expecting something a bit different as mistakenly, before I read it, I was expecting Eden Close to be a place whereas in fact she is a young woman.
The story is set in a small town in America and is in the present day although you have to bear in mind that this book was written in 1989. It does quite often have flashbacks to events that happened fifteen years before and these are crucial to what happens to the characters later on.
A brief summary of the story is that Andrew returns to his family home after the sudden death of his mother. Whilst dealing with all the practicalities after a sudden death he keeps finding himself drawn back to the past and what happened at his neighbour's house fifteen years earlier. There had been a tragedy which had left the father dead and his young friend Eden badly injured and blinded. Although everyone thinks they knew what happened that night, Andrew cannot help but think about it all now and some things just don't add up.
Eden and her rather strange mother Edith still live in the house and Eden is a virtual recluse. However, defying the wishes of her mother, Andrew does get to see Eden again and the more they see of each other, the more he is drawn in to her strange sad world. As time moves on, the events of the past become clearer before culminating in quite a shocking ending about which I will say no more!
This was an incredibly enjoyable book once I had got in to it. This did take a bit of time to do as the pace is quite slow moving but there is something about it that gently reels you in and before you know it you are hooked. Towards the end I was totally immersed in all that was happening.
The main characters are both very real and moving. I liked both Andrew and Eden and really started to care about what was going to happen to both of them. The longer he spends in his home town the more Andrew starts to question his busy high powered way of life and he obviously has a leaning towards a more simple lifestyle. This is compounded when he meets Eden again who at first is very much a closed character. However, as we get to know her she is like a flower slowly starting to bloom. I think Anita Shreve portrays her characters really well and the secret seems to be in the level of detail she provides which really helps the reader to get to know them. This is true of all the lesser characters we meet too - all of whom have been affected by the harrowing events so many years before.
I love Anita Shreve's attention to detail. She really does have a very observant eye and all of her descriptions of places and people are very precise and detailed. You could almost imagine you were there.
The novel works really well moving between the present and the past too. It is a very strong story line and moving between the two times really helps the reader to piece everything together. It's a very gentle read too - I guess the slow pace might frustrate some people but I think that the slow pace is quite important as it reflects the gentle way in which Andrew and Eden come together and also the gradual way he pieces together all that happened in the past.
This really is an excellent book if you like reading about people and also like a bit of a mystery. I wouldn't recommend it though if you like a fast pace and lots of action - it just isn't that sort of book. If you think it's for you though you can get it on Amazon for £5.99.
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Advantages: Character driven novel; Introduced to 12 other novels Disadvantages: Clare?s character not fully developed; spoilers on the books that are discussed
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